The hip flexor muscles flex the hip during swing. They are particularly important for initiating swing91 when walking at slow speeds. Without adequate hip flexion during swing, knee flexion is more dependent on hamstring muscle activity.59 Patients with paralysis of the hip flexor muscles attempt to advance the swing leg by either externally rotating the hip and using hip adductor muscles as hip flexors or by circumducting the leg.59,61 The effects of hip flexor muscle paralysis on gait are particularly evident when walking up stairs or slopes, which requires lifting the leg.

Lie on your back with your feet flat on the floor and knees bent. Cross your right ankle over your left knee. Keeping your lower back pressed into the floor, pull your left knee in towards the chest by threading your hands between your legs and pulling gently on your left thigh. Think about keeping your right knee open to really stretch your hip. You’ll feel a little extra lovin’ in the outside of your hip with this one! Repeat on the other side.

Tight hip flexors can result in lower back pain, hip pain and injury. A lot of strain is put on those muscles during activities that involve sprinting and kicking. For example, runners are more prone to hip flexor injuries because of the small, repetitive movement during running. But even if you’re not an athlete, hip flexor injuries can occur during everyday activities (for instance, slipping and falling or running to catch a bus). When those tight muscles are suddenly stretched beyond what they are accustomed to, you might also experience pain in the upper groin region, typically where the hip meets the pelvis.
Following the core strengthening, working on glute activation through various hip extension movements is the big finale. For one, the glutes main function of hip extension is an agonist to the hip flexors, and are also directly involved in low back stability, which means they help to pick up the slack for the core during movements, and helps reduce the impulse on the psoas, therefore reducing the “tightness.”

Now the catch with hip flexion is that most of us sit in chairs and end up in a position of passive hip flexion and knee flexion (bent knees) and retain that position for many hours a day. We know now that our bodies process the movement or lack thereof and adapt to the shape that we most frequently inhabit, for better or worse. If you primarily flex the hips and knees and never fully extend them, you may have chronically short or weak hamstrings, limited range of active hip flexion and limited range of active hip extension, for starters!

A sedentary lifestyle can lead to having weak and tight hip flexors as they are always in the shortened position. Tight hip flexors can lead to a limited range of motion, poor posture, lower back, and hip pain, and even injuries. These muscles need to get a workout when you are standing and doing movements such as raising your leg to climb stairs, run, or ride a bicycle.​
One of the biggest dangers to your health is constantly sitting for long periods of time which can cause physical and emotional damage. 10 key moves that will help loosen your hip flexor and unlock the power within your body. There is an easy to follow program to unlocking your hip flexors that will strengthen your body, improve your health, and have an all day energy..... https://bit.ly/2HYTPrJ Report

To achieve this stretch, start out on your hands and knees. Slowly widen your knees out as far as they can go, and make sure to keep your lower legs in line with your knees. Your lower legs and feet should be parallel with one another. Next, ease your upper body forward on your forearms and reach forward until you feel the stretch. Hold this pose for about 10 seconds.

Pull your shoulder blades down and back and reach down with both hands to grab the back of your left thigh to pull your knee toward your chest. Keep the right leg straight and push the back of the right heel into the ground; feeling your right glute muscle contract. Keep your abs and core tight and as your hip relaxes, pull it in closer if possible. Repeat on the opposite leg.
The primary hip flexors are the rectus femoris, iliacus, psoas, iliocapsularis, and sartorius muscles. The rectus femoris muscle has two distinct origins proximally: the direct head and the reflected head. They originate at the AIIS and the anterior acetabular rim (in close proximity to the anterior hip capsule), respectively. The tendinous fibers of the rectus femoris coalesce distally and become confluent with the other quadriceps musculature in the thigh. The quadriceps consists of four distinct muscles: 1) the vastus intermedius; 2) the vastus lateralis; 3) the vastus medialis; and 4) the rectus femoris. The rectus femoris is the only quadriceps muscle that traverses both the hip and the knee joint. The rectus femoris is a powerful hip flexor, but it is largely dependent on the position of the knee and hip to assert its influence. It is most powerful when the knee is flexed, whereas significant power is lost when the knee is extended. The rectus femoris is innervated by the femoral nerve (i.e., the posterior division of L2 to L4).

3) The athlete or client will use the rectus femoris to create hip flexion. This is the mysterious “quad pull” seen in sprinters or on forty-yard dash day in football. In this case the etiology is the same as above, only the culprit is now the rectus femoris, not the TFL. It should be noted, that most “quad pulls” or “quad strains” are limited to the multi-joint rectus femoris. Soreness will generally be near the insertion point of the rectus femoris into the quadriceps at about the mid-point of the thigh. The psoas and iliacus are to the anterior hip as the glute is to the posterior hip. A weak glute max will cause synergistic dominance of the hamstrings and extension of the lumbar spine to compensate for hip extension. This will lead to back pain, anterior hip pain (another Sahrmann point: use of the hamstring as the primary hip extensor changes the lever arm of the femur and can cause anterior capsule pain), and hamstring strains. On the literal opposite side a weak or under-active psoas will cause back pain from flexion rather than extension, TFL strain and rectus femoris strain.

Im a skateboarder and a couple weeks ago i skated alot every day and my lefy hip was starting to get sore. But of course i couldnt resist skating so i kept skating and it got worse and worse to the point i couldnt really skate at all without my hip hurting but of course i would still mess around on the board doing tiny tricks but a couple days ago i was just skating around not really doing tricks and i slipped and kicked my leg out and REALLY hurt my hip and thought i tore a tendon or something and couldnt walk for two days, but its gotten alot better and i can walk fairly normal and i ice it everyday but whenever i stretch it its just a really sharp pain it doesnt feel like im stretching it. What do i do when all the stretch does is make a sharp pain? How do i strengthen my hip? And how long would it take to strengthen my hip to full strength again? Because i cant stand not being able to skate. Please reply so i can skate as soon as possible thank you
Come into a lunge position with your right knee forward, and lower your left knee to the ground, releasing so the top of your left foot is flat on the floor. Place your hands on the ground under your shoulders, keeping them both to the inside of your right leg. Keep your arms straight and press your chest forward to increase the stretch. Sink into your hips, but try to keep the weight balanced between them. Be aware that your front knee doesn’t go over your toes. Repeat on the opposite leg.
Located deep in the front of the hip and connecting the leg, pelvis, and abdomen, the hip flexors— surprise, surprise— flex the hip. But despite being some of the most powerful muscles in our bodies (with a clearly important role), it’s easy to neglect our poor hip flexors— often without even knowing it. It turns out just working at a desk all day (guilty!) can really weaken hip flexors since they tend to shorten up while in a seated position. This tightness disrupts good posture and is a common cause of lower back pain. Weakened hip flexors can also increase the risk of foot, ankle, and knee injuries (especially among runners) Hip muscle weakness and overuse injuries in recreational runners. Niemuth, P.E., Johnson, R.J., Myers, M.J., et al. Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions, Provo, VT. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, 2005 Jan; 15 (1): 14-21.. So be sure to get up, stand up every hour or so! And giving the hip flexors some extra attention is not just about injury prevention. Adding power to workouts, working toward greater flexibility, and getting speedier while running is also, as they say, all in the hips The effect of walking speed on muscle function and mechanical energetics. Neptune, R.R., Sasaki, K., and Kautz, S.A. Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas, Austin, TX. Gait & Posture, 2008 Jul; 28 (1): 135-43..
Movement at the ankle is controlled by two joints. The ankle or talocrural joint is formed from the tibia and fibula of the lower leg and talus of the foot. Functionally, it acts as a hinge, allowing dorsiflexion (pulling the foot upwards towards the lower leg) and plantarflexion (pulling the foot downwards away from the lower leg). Eversion (tilting of the sole of the foot away from the midline) and inversion (tilting of the sole of the foot inwards towards the midline) is controlled by the subtalar joint formed between the talus and calcaneus bones of the foot.
The hip flexor muscles flex the hip during swing. They are particularly important for initiating swing91 when walking at slow speeds. Without adequate hip flexion during swing, knee flexion is more dependent on hamstring muscle activity.59 Patients with paralysis of the hip flexor muscles attempt to advance the swing leg by either externally rotating the hip and using hip adductor muscles as hip flexors or by circumducting the leg.59,61 The effects of hip flexor muscle paralysis on gait are particularly evident when walking up stairs or slopes, which requires lifting the leg.
Apply the above concept to your hips. When you sit, your hips are in a "flexed" position. Therefore, the muscles that flex your hips are in a shortened state. You probably spend at least a third of your day sitting down. Think about how much time those hip flexor muscles stay shortened. A lot. Over time, they become tighter and tighter until you look like the old man in the picture. So unless you want to look like that, perform the stretches shown below.
In the case of a weak or under-active psoas or iliacus, the femur may move above the level of the hip but it is not from the action of the psoas and iliacus but rather from the momentum created by the other three hip flexors. With this knowledge in hand, I believe that our knowledge of back pain, “hip flexor strains,” and ‘quad pulls” is drastically expanded. Before we discuss specific injuries let’s first look at how to assess the function of the psoas and iliacus.
Hey Martha! Thank you so much for your comment! You’re right, if you’re flexing the hip it’s hard to stretch it! The last three you mentioned are so helpful for focusing on the adductor group, although yes, they aren’t helping stretch the rectus femoris in those positions. I was trying to include a variety of stretches to include every hip flexor muscle. I’m very curious about the lying hip flexor stretch now, though. It’s been a go-to with every trainer I’ve worked with, and I’ll have to look into this more. What are your favorite hip flexor stretches for patients? Thank you!
Any/all of these will indicate that the client or athlete is attempting to compensate for the weak or under-active muscles. The TFL cramp is a classic illustration of synergistic dominance. A muscle cramps when attempting to shorten in a disadvantageous position. With the hip flexed above ninety, the TFL is already shortened and unable to produce the necessary force to hold in a position of poor leverage. The attempt results in cramping, much like a hamstring cramp in bridging when the glutes are under-active. The same effects are often seen when attempting hanging knee ups (an exercise we almost never do, as it teaches compensation), except the cramp or strain is in the rectus femoris.

Really great content. I also had some lower back problem but now that I know the source, I will work on it. My counsins also talked to me about this product called Panifix, or "Unlock your hip flexor" which Gives You A Practical, Easy-to-follow Program You Can Use To Instantly Release Your Hip Flexors For More Strength, Better Health And All Day Energy. Proven Swipes And Creatives Here:https://tinyurl.com/yd6nbzfh

Some stretching basics: you should feel a stretch, but not pain. If it really hurts, contact a physical therapist and figure out what’s really wrong. If your hip flexors are truly tight, a few weeks of doing these stretches should help you feel better! You should notice relief, so if you’re not, you may have something else wrong besides “tightness,” or you might need to address what you’re doing the other 23 hrs and 50 minutes of each day.

If you suffer from tight hips, I’ve compiled the best stretches and exercises to help you get the relief you need! Whether your hips are tight from sitting all day or from killing your last workout, these hip flexor stretches should help you get some relief. Tight muscles can potentially be shortened, and tight hips might mean your abs are weak or you have some instability in your back. Let’s stretch these babies out and help you work to get balanced and feeling better!
The top of the sartorius muscle attaches to the anterior superior iliac crest. Anterior is the portion toward the front of the body, superior is the part toward the head, and iliac crest is the top border of the ilium. The muscle crosses the upper leg to attach to the tibia, also known as the shin bone. The femoral nerve supplies the sartorius muscle with nerves. The sartorius muscle aids in knee and hip flexion and rotation of the thigh and tibia.
Work on strengthening all of your core muscles and glutes. These muscles work together to give you balance and stability and to help you move through the activities involved in daily living, as well as exercise and sports. When one set of these muscles is weak or tight, it can cause injury or pain in another, so make sure you pay equal attention to all of them.
Take a step back and think about where you spend most of your day. If you're a young athlete, you probably spend most of your time at school or maybe work or practice and even a little time at home, if you're lucky. Now think about what position your body is in during those periods. I would bet that you spend most of your day sitting down. You may walk to class or run in practice, but the majority of your day is spent in a seated position.
The wisdom that Sahrmann shares in her book Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes explains many of the injury riddles of the Strength and Conditioning field, particularly the “hip flexor pull” or “quad pull.” The key to understanding the motion of hip flexion comes from looking at the anatomical leverages of the different muscles involved. There are five muscles that are capable of assisting in hip flexion:

Like quadriceps, the hamstrings are 2-joint muscles. Unlike the quadriceps, though, the hamstrings reside at the back of your thigh. They attach at the siting bones, which are located on the underside of your pelvis. When the hamstring muscles contract, the effect is a pulling of the back of the pelvis down toward the back of the thigh, or a bringing of the lower extremity back behind you.

Tight hip flexors can result in lower back pain, hip pain and injury. A lot of strain is put on those muscles during activities that involve sprinting and kicking. For example, runners are more prone to hip flexor injuries because of the small, repetitive movement during running. But even if you’re not an athlete, hip flexor injuries can occur during everyday activities (for instance, slipping and falling or running to catch a bus). When those tight muscles are suddenly stretched beyond what they are accustomed to, you might also experience pain in the upper groin region, typically where the hip meets the pelvis.
Keeping your abs engaged, make sure your head is over your heart, and your heart over your hips. Your hips should be centered, which means your back shouldn’t be arched nor your butt tucked under. Try to keep the weight displaced evenly between your hips. Sink into the lunge as your hips relax. Draw your back heel towards the wall behind you. You can lift your hands up, palms facing each other if you’re able. Repeat on the other side.
Once you know where each muscle attaches you can identify specific weakness by designing exercises that target a smaller group of muscles or positions instead of all of them at once. To know which ones are tight or weak strengthen your knowledge of the anatomy of hip flexion and function of the various muscles. Then, design exercises that target each muscle more independently to explore the strength of each one. This is often called corrective exercise.
Work on strengthening all of your core muscles and glutes. These muscles work together to give you balance and stability and to help you move through the activities involved in daily living, as well as exercise and sports. When one set of these muscles is weak or tight, it can cause injury or pain in another, so make sure you pay equal attention to all of them.
The iliotibial band is a thickening of the fascia lata, the deep fascia of the thigh. Think of it as a thick long ligament like structure that connects the hip to the lower leg along the outside of the thigh. Tightness in the iliotibial band can cause patellofemoral pain, trochanteric bursitis, and friction syndromes at the knee. This is a hip stretch I commonly prescribe to runners and people suffering from knee pain.
Great exercises and stretches that can be easily done throughout the day to strengthen and loosen my hip flexors. i have very tight hip flexors so it's very helpful for me knowing these exercises and stretches. For those that want more info about exercises and stretches for hip flexors, i recommend the "unlock your hip flexors". It is a program that will show you many more exercises and stretches you can do. So check it out here
When these muscles are under constant tension because of ergonomics and habitual postural positioning, they may become tight and shortened. This can result in pulling forward on the lumbar vertebrae, creating hyperlordosis and causing the pelvis to tilt anteriorly. This is commonly seen in people who maintain a seated position for a prolonged period such as office workers, computer programmers, and others who find themselves sitting at a desk for hours every day. It is important to provide education on proper ergonomics, movement, and self-care to these individuals.
Athletes with marked weakness of the hip abductors will exhibit the classic Trendelenburg gait pattern. Hallmarks of the Trendelenburg gait pattern are depression of the swing phase pelvis (as the stance phase hip abductors cannot resist the pull of gravity on the unsupported side of the body).4,8,13 Athletes often find ways to compensate for a relative weakness, such as with a compensated Trendelenburg gait pattern. With this pattern the athlete exhibits increased deviation of the body in the frontal plane toward the stance leg. This causes a decrease in the moment arm of gravitational forces pulling on the unsupported half of the body and a relative decreased load on the stance phase hip abductors (Table 12-1).8,13
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Tight hip flexors occur for a variety of reasons. Those who run frequently or engage in other activities that put strain on the hip flexors are likely to experience hip flexor tightness at one time or another. A blow to the hip or poor conditioning can also be causes of tight hip flexors. These causes can usually be attributed to tiny tears that occur to our hip flexors through rigorous activity.

You can roll on just about anything. I've used several different types of foam rollers, a Rumble Roller, lacrosse balls, PVC pipe, a number of weird stick-shaped things. I've also been getting great results using the Body Wrench, an awesome device that is basically a combination of all of the above. I have found that different materials are suitable for different areas on different bodies, so feel free to experiment and find what works best for you.

Deanna is an ACE® certified personal trainer, Balanced Body® Pilates instructor, and NASM® Fitness Nutrition Specialist. She is passionate about inspiring others to lead a healthier lifestyle through fun workouts and healthy food. When she’s not creating new workouts and recipes for her blog The Live Fit Girls she enjoys running with her two dogs and traveling.